Can God Punish His Children?

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Romans 2:1-11
We will terribly misunderstand God and what He says and does if we know Him only as God of love and do not know Him as God of judgment. God is love and the same love that moves Him to save and blessed, moves Him to judge and condemn. The same God who is a redeemer is also a consuming fire. It is a blessed thing to come to Him in salvation, but a fearful thing to fall into His hands in judgment (Heb. 10:31)


To understand God’s love and fear it is good we consider;

 God’s kindness and severity

We are going to be discussing the two seasons of God every true worshiper must know and be adapted to: namely

1   The season to worship Him in the glory of His love and kindness.
2     And the season to worship Him in the fear of his judgment or severity.

These are what Apostle Paul took time to explain in Rom. 2:1-11, 11:21-22; Heb. 12:25-29). When His kindness or goodness is abused or taken for granted by His worshipers, His severity or judgment comes into force. It was written about the children of Issachar, that they were men who had understanding of the times and they knew what Israel ought to do. These men of great understanding were two hundred in number: and this great ability qualified them to be leaders and all their brethren were put under their command. When we speak of the love and fear of God, this is exactly what is in focus. Worshiping God in the glory of His love means serving Him in obedience to what He has commanded and in the spirit of gratitude for His great love and kindness toward us. This is our love in reciprocal response to His love (Deut. 6:1-9; John 14:21-24, 15:8-14). And worshiping in the fear of His judgment means working out our salvation with fear and trembling so that we can serve Him acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Phil. 2:12-15; Heb. 12:25-29). We worship Him in the fear of His judgment because He will certainly bring every one and every work into judgment (Eccl. 11:9-10, 12:13-14). There is judgment here and now and there is judgment hereafter. The season of God’s love and kindness is when He is withholding His wrath from men through His longsuffering, giving them time to repent and do what He commanded so that they may live (Ezek. 33:11; Rom. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). And the season of His judgment is when His longsuffering becomes exhausted toward sinners or when His people have abused and taken His kindness for granted that He lets loose His anger upon them for chastening and correction. Like the children of Issachar, we need spiritual perception and sensitivity of times and season so that we can know the mode of life and course of action the Lord would have us to take when each of these two seasons of God’s judgment as predicted by Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4:17-18. Another word for judgment is “crisis” the church is now facing a season of serious crisis that the way out of it is repentance and humbling of ourselves as recommended in 2 Chron. 7:14.




The supreme virtue of Christian faith and life is love (agape) John 3:16, and love is the fulfillment of the law of God Matt. 22:34-40. The first quality agape love reproduces in us is fear or deep reverence for God which is the foundation of wisdom Pro.1:7, 9:10. Love and fear of God are twine virtues that cannot be separated. Where one is working, the other must be there. There is nothing like loving God without fearing Him. Love and fear of God are the sources of obedience to Him which comes from a willing heart. Isa. 1:19-20; Jn. 14:15-21. His love and fear in us enable us to love our fellow man; we will not fear man or evil. Perfect love of God in us will cast out fear of man and evil Matt. 10:26-28; 1 John 4:18. He who loves and fears God does not fear anything else on earth. Those who love and fear God are the generation of His mercy or kindness Deut. 5:8.

Moreover, there are Christians who resent or frown at any message on God’s judgment and hell, especially, those of younger generation. Such Christians believes that any message that puts fear in them is not from God. They affirm that God is love and that love drives away fear; that any message from God must be such that drives  away fear. As good as this notion may sound; there is a serious error and deception in it that is capable of blindsiding those who hold it from seeing the wholesome teaching of the scriptures. Another argument such people use to affirm this notion is that the gospel is good news that brings joy not fear. This kind of Christians always have skeletons in their cupboard. They always have something to hide. Such scripturally unbalanced argument is always a guise designed for a cover up. The gospel of Christ is indeed the message of good tiding of great joy. It brings to everyone the message of God’s love for the world of sinners_ love so supreme and amazing, a redeeming love for the lost humanity. Moreover, this gospel of great joy and amazing love of God goes with warning of judgment to those who disbelieve and reject it (John 3:14-21 compare Isa. 61:1-2). The gospel of Christ is good tiding with a wholesome message_ the message of God’s redeeming love and the message of warning of His judgment.


 Now, when the scripture says, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment (torment). He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18); what does it mean? This question will be answered adequately only by the scriptures themselves. Indeed, genuine love is a fulfillment of God’s law for love is the summary of the whole commandments (Matt. 22:35-40; Rom. 13:8-10; Deut. 6:4-5). Then the quality of this love is defined as that which comes out of a pure heart, good conscience, and faith unfeigned (1 Tim. 1:5). This love has two objectives which are: 

1. Loving the lord supremely
2. Loving fellow man fervently as ourselves


There is no fear of God’s judgment in this kind of love because genuine love confirms salvation. Following from 1 Tim. 1:5, it means that if our heart is not pure. Our conscience is not good or free from guilt, and our faith is not sincere, then our love cannot be genuine and free from fear of God’s judgment. The scripture establishes that we can be free from such fear only when our love for God and fellow man is perfect, or rather when we are made perfect in love (1 John 4:18). This is so because the fear of God’s judgment is intended to make us perfect in His love. That is the role the fear of God and of His judgment plays in our Christian life. The fear of God is the same as His terror or dread. Apostle Paul said; “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (2 Cor. 5:11). The knowledge of the fear of God is a spiritual force that persuades us and others to obey Him from the heart prompted by true love for Him. This is why such fear is referred to as the beginning or foundation of true wisdom and knowledge (Prov. 1:7). Only fools are said to hate and despise such wisdom and knowledge that come through godly instruction. The fear of God is what augments the love of God in our lives; it does not reduce or destroy it. Furthermore, there is a difference between the “fear of God” and the “fear of God’s judgment”. The fear of God speaks of reverential attitude in relating with Him. It speaks of having deep respect for Him and all that relates to Him as a wise son or daughter should have toward his or her father. But fear of His judgment comes when we know God as no respecter of persons, a consuming fire, and a supreme judge of the universe. Both fear of God as reverential attitude toward Him and the fear of His judgment are spiritual and moral augmentation to our love for Him until we become perfected in His love (Isa. 19:9). The only fear that must never be allowed in the life of a child of God is that of evil, man, or the unknown. God commanded His people not to allow or give in to such fears. He that truly loves and fears God does not fear anything else on earth. If there is any fear that must be cast out by true love it is the fear of evil, man and the unknown (Isa. 8:9-13).


The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom and the love of God is the perfection of them all. The fear of God fills us with awe, deep respect, and reverence for Him, and the love of God fills us with faith, trust obedience and worship for Him. We need to be filled with both, so that our foundation and perfection will never be destroyed.



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